Market utilities: useless or useful?

It is only a matter of time before one of the larger international service providers realises that service delivery to the retail broker-dealer space sector is not as complicated as many believe, says Denis Orrock of GBST Capital Markets.

Innovation Time

As the global securities industry continues to evolve, moving away from its reliance on manual processes toward greater transparency and faster settlement, it is critical for today’s market participants to take a much deeper look at what legacy technology is actually costing in terms of operational loss.
This article by GBST explains why robust technology supporting the middle office and operational processing pays for itself, and what the industry needs to consider in the years to come.

Essential for all wealth management providers, GBST Composer® is continuously updated in-line with new regulations to ensure you are always in compliance, eliminating the need to manually research market changes.

Financial wellbeing crucial to personal wellbeing

GBST CEO Rob De Dominicis considers what impact today's spending culture might be having on our personal wellbeing and looks at how technology is being used to encourage savings and investment by rewarding positive changes in financial behaviour.

AEGON

AEGON UK, part of the AEGON Group which is one of the world’s largest listed life and pensions companies, offers pensions, life insurance, asset management and financial advice to around 2 million customers in the United Kingdom (UK) and has assets under administration of £57.6 billion.

Designed specifically for Australian not-for-profits and other membership-driven organisations, the GBST Unison suite of products delivers an easily accessible and secure multi-device system for handling every aspect of membership management.

Unison™ uActive Benefits

Recently an existing GBST union client using Unison™ as its in house membership system implemented such a solution and integrated between their web processes and the Unison™ database.

Customised after-tax benchmarks for superannuation funds to measure the effectiveness of each fund manager in a consistent way with post-trade tax and performance analytics solutions.

Report on Financial Transaction Taxes by GBST and Deloitte

With the introduction of Financial Transaction Taxes first in France and Italy, and soon for the EU, the full complexity of processing taxes is becoming a major operational headache for firms.
GBST’s Financial Transaction Tax solution has recently gone live at a global investment bank, we have taken this opportunity to review what we have learnt from this process and present our experiences and thoughts to you.

Choose from a range of pre-built interactive financial calculators or customise your own to better engage customers and prospects through your website and generate quality leads.

Report on Financial Transaction Taxes by GBST and Deloitte

With the introduction of Financial Transaction Taxes first in France and Italy, and soon for the EU, the full complexity of processing taxes is becoming a major operational headache for firms.
GBST’s Financial Transaction Tax solution has recently gone live at a global investment bank, we have taken this opportunity to review what we have learnt from this process and present our experiences and thoughts to you.

Executive Team

Rob DeDominicis

Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director

Robert was appointed to Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director in December 2015. He is a founding partner of InfoComp, now GBST’s Retail Wealth Business, with over 30 years’ experience in the development of software applications. Robert holds a Bachelor of Mathematics. Robert has a business and technical software background having been part of the Retail Wealth Business development and professional services teams.

Gareth Turner

Chief Financial Officer

Gareth has a strong background in finance leadership and transformation and has held a number of senior Finance positions in large Australian businesses over the past 16 years, both in the publicly listed and private equity arenas. Gareth was previously Chief Financial Officer at Hills Limited, one of Australia’s most trusted, iconic brands. Gareth has also held senior Finance positions with amaysim Australia Limited, the Jetset Travelworld Group Limited, the Stella Group (private equity assets owned by CVC Asia Pacific), Corporate Express Australia Limited and Deloitte.

Gareth holds a BCom(Hons)(Acc) degree, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mark Knowlton

Chief Technology Officer

Mark Knowlton joined GBST as Chief Technology Officer in April 2017 leading the technology team which designs, builds and optimises GBST solutions. Prior to GBST, Mark worked from 2011 with Macquarie Bank as Chief Information Officer for their Banking and Financial Services business. Before that, Mark worked for AXA in various technology leadership roles. His early career was shaped in various software engineering and management consultancy roles with KPMG, CSC and CAP (now SEMA). Mark has extensive experience in digital disruption within Financial Services and is passionate about leading transformational change to deliver the best outcomes for clients, colleagues and shareholders. He holds a Hons Bachelor’s degree from the University of Nottingham, U.K.

Denis Orrock

Head of Asia Pacific

Denis joined GBST in May 2008 and was named Head of Asia Pacific in April 2016 after serving as Chief Executive Officer for Capital Markets since August 2012. Previously, he managed the company’s Australian Broker Services and Financial Services divisions. Prior to joining GBST, Denis was General Manager of Infochoice and has also held advisory and trading positions with UBS, Grange Securities and Taylor Collison. Having worked within the Australian financial services industry for over 15 years, Denis has a broad understanding of domestic wholesale and retail markets.

Bill Irving

Head of North America

Bill joined GBST in January of 2016 and is based in Tampa, Florida. As Head of North America, he is responsible for GBST’s business in Canada and the United States. Bill has spent over 40 years serving the Financial Services industry. He has held leadership positions with industry participants, software development firms and global management consultancies. Most recently, Bill had executive roles with PWC and Capco. He holds both BA and MBA degrees.

David Simpson

Head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa

David Simpson joined GBST as head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa in July 2016. He manages client activity and drives the ongoing regional growth of the group’s retail wealth platforms for wraps, life and pensions and banks, and for institutional capital markets. Previously, he was employed by SEI Investments Company as chief relationship officer for SEI Europe’s Wealth Platform. Prior to joining SEI in 2010 as business development director, he held various roles at Barclays Wealth where he was employed for 22 years, including Managing Director of UK Asset Management and Retail Platforms from 2004 to 2010.

Tom Edwards

Head of Business Transformation

Tom was appointed Head of Business Transformation in April 2016. He joined GBST in 2012 as Head of Programmes for Wealth Management UK, where he was responsible for delivery of all client projects. Prior to this, Tom held delivery roles in the software and financial services industries, including Aquila Heywood and Towers Watson. He previously spent ten years in the Business Transformation Practice of PA Consulting, leading client change programmes across financial services and other industries. Tom holds a Masters Degree in Electronics & Information Science from Cambridge University.

Belinda Armstrong

Head of Human Resources

Belinda joined GBST as Head of Human Resources in July 2017, and leads the HR function to ensure the delivery of designing, developing and executing the HR strategy and plans, advising and coaching to all levels of the business, including recruitment, training and development, leadership capability, remuneration and benefits and HR Administration. Previously, Belinda has been employed in HR Director and Senior HR Business Partner roles for corporate and business operations for Isentia and Virgin Australia, and has a passion for business and cultural transformation, alongside global multi-site leadership experience.